Last Updated 27 Jan.
2023
Toki Pona
Toki Pona is a language developed
by linguist Sonja Lang, with only
around 130 words.
This side describes the grammar,
the other side contains vocabulary.
This version is by jan Sa, CC0.
Original by blinry.
This document is simply a cheat
sheet and is not exhaustive. For
more, visit https://tokipona.org/
Alphabet
Toki Pona uses these letters:
aeijklmnopstuw
All consonants are the same as
English, except j Is like English “y.”
Vowels are all similar to Spanish.
Basic sentences
The particle li separates the
subject from the predicate.
soweli li moku. – The cat is eating.
jan li lape. – Someone is sleeping.
There is no verb “to be.”
The part after li (predicate) can be
a noun or an adjective.
kili li moku. – Fruits are food.
telo li pona. – Water is good.
If the subject is mi or sina alone,
the li is always omitted.
mi moku. – I eat.
sina pona. – You are good.
Ambiguity
Toki Pona words are less specific
than English words, so one-to-one
translation is not as easy.
mi moku. – I am eating. / I was
eating. / I will be eating.
Many words have multiple or
general meanings.
soweli – cat / dog / (any land
mammal)
kili = (any fruit or vegetable)
Most words can act as nouns,
verbs, adjectives, or adverbs.
telo – water / wet / to wash
pona = good, simple / to improve,
to make better / well, greatly
Nouns have no default
countability. They also do not have
any default identifiability.
kili – a fruit / the fruit / some fruits
/ the fruits
mi – I / me / we / us
mi pali e tomo kepeken palisa
Direct objects
The particle e separates a verb
from its direct object. This also
makes the word before into a verb.
soweli li moku e telo. – The animal
drinks the water.
mi telo e soweli. – I wash the cat. / I
apply water to the cat.
sina suli e ona– You embiggen it. /
You make it big.
Modifying words
Words can be modified by
appending other words.
jan lili – small human, child
tomo mi – my house
pilin pona – a good feeling
To negate a word, append ala:
mi lape ala. – I’m not sleeping.
jan ala li toki. – No one is talking.
With multiple modifiers, they all
modify the first word.
lipu kasi tu – two plant documents
poki laso pimeja – a blue and black
box
You can change the way the
modifiers interact using pi.
lipu pi kasi tu – a document of two
plants
poki pi laso pimeja– a dark-blue
box
Prepositions
kepeken, lon, sama, tan, and tawa
can act as prepositions. They go at
the end of a statement.
mi moku kepeken ilo. – I eat with
cutlery.
soweli li lon tomo. – The animal is
in the house.
sina toki sama kala! – You talk like
a fish!
mi kama tan esun. – I arrive from
the store.
ona li toki e ni tawa sina. – They
said this to you.
Conjunctions
There are many ways to say “and.”
For multiple subjects, use en.
mi en sina li musi mute. – You and
I are playing a lot.
For predicates, repeat li.
soweli ni li lili li suwi. – This animal
is small and cute.
For direct objects, repeat e.
ona li jo e waso e kala. – She has a
bird and a fish.
For prepositions, repeat the
preposition.
moku – yes
kepeken kiwen. – I make the house
using sticks and stones.
anu can be used to mean “or.”
ni li pona anu ike? – Is this good or
bad?
mi anu sina li tawa esun. – You or I
are going to the store.
Loaned Adjectives
Toki Pona does not use proper
nouns, but rather proper
adjectives:
jan Sonja – a Sonja person, a
person named Sonja
toki Tosi – a Tosi (Deutsch)
language, German
ma Mewika li suli. – The US is big.
Loaned adjectives should follow
Toki Pona’s phonology. Toki Pona
uses a (C)V(n) syllable structure.
Vowel clusters, consonant clusters,
and the sequences wu, wo, ji, ti,
nm, and nn are disallowed.
o
You can use o before a verb to turn
it into a command.
o kute! – Listen!
o pali. – Work, please.
You can use o after a subject to
address that subject.
jan Pape o! – O Pape!
You can have o between a subject
and predicate to express a wish,
desire, request, etc.
pona o tawa sina. – I wish for
goodness to go to you.
mi o pali. – I should be working.
Or it can also be a contraction of
the first two uses.
soweli Ton o moku. – Eat, Ton.
Interjections
Interjections are used often,
sometimes paired with a for
emphasis.
pona! – Good! / Great! / Thanks!
wawa a! – So powerful!
toki! – Hello! / Hi! / Greetings!
lon! – True! / Correct!
moku pona! – Bon appetit! / What a
fantastic meal!
Questions
There are two ways to form yes or
no questions. For yes/no
questions, use “verb ala verb.”
sina moku ala moku? – Are you
eating?
To say yes, repeat the verb. To say
no, say “verb ala” or “ala.”
moku ala / ala – no
For open-ended questions, you can
also use “anu seme.”
sina moku anu seme? – Are you
eating?
kala anu seme li lon poki? - Are
fish in the box?
seme can also be used to create
nonpolar questions. Replace the
word in question with seme.
jan seme li toki? – Who’s talking?
sina pali e seme? – What are you
making?
The question mark is a stylistic
choice. Toki Pona uses grammar to
mark questions, not tone or
punctuation.
In general, all you need for
punctuation is to separate
sentences.
Preverbs
Preverbs go before verbs to modify
their meaning.
mi kama sona. – I come to know.
waso lili li wile suli. – The small
bird wants to be big.
The words that can act as preverbs
are wile, kama, sona, lukin, ken,
awen, and sometimes alasa.
Context
la can be used to mark the context
of a sentence. X la Y means “In the
context of X, Y.” This can mean
time, cause, topic, or any other
relationship to the main sentence.
sina lon poka mi la mi pilin pona. –
When you are by my side, I feel
good.
Most prepositional terms can be
moved behind a la.
mi lape lon tenpo pimeja. tenpo
pimeja la mi lape. – I sleep at night.
sina seli tan seme? tan seme la
sina seli? – Why are you hot?
Numbers
Combine number words to add
them up.
wan – 1 tu – 2 luka – 5
mute – 20 ale - 100
tu tu – 4 luka tu wan - 8
nanpa can be used to mark
ordinals.
jan nanpa wan li pona. – The first
person is good.
ni li nasin nanpa mute tu wan. –
That is 23rd Street.
And… that’s it!
 a (emphasis, kon air; spirit, nanpa -th; number *soko mushroom
emotion, or essence; unseen
nasa strange, unusual; sona to know; wisdom
confirmation) agent
foolish; silly knowledge, info
akesi reptile, *ku to interact with
nasin way, road, soweli land animal
amphibian Toki Pona
doctrine, method
no, not, zero Dictionary suli big, heavy, large
ala bump, hill, nose
kule color, colorful nena
alasa to hunt, to forage suno light source, sun;
ni this, that bright
kulupu community,
ale (ali) all; everything;
group, company, nimi word, name supa horizontal
100
nation surface, thing to
downward, noka foot, leg; lower
anpa kute ear; to hear put objects on
humble, lowly part
suwi sweet; cute
la (context marker) o (vocative /
ante different, other,
changed imperative tan from, by, because
lape sleeping, resting
particle)
anu (connects taso but, however; only
laso blue, green
phrases with “or” olin to love, to respect
tawa going to; for;
rather than lawa head, mind; ruler;
ona third-person moving
“and”) to lead, to
pronoun
regulate telo liquid, water,
awen enduring, kept, open to begin, to start; beverage
protected; to *leko square, block opening
continue to tenpo time, duration,
len cloth, fabric; pakala broken, damaged; moment, period
e (direct object cover, layer of to mess up
marker) privacy toki to say; language
pali to do, to work on
en (multiple subject lete cool, cold; raw tomo indoor space;
marker) palisa long hard object; building, home
li (predicate rod, stick
esun market, shop, fair marker) *tonsi non-binary, trans
pan grain, pasta,
ijo thing, object, lili small, little; few, bread, rice tu Two
phenomenon a bit; young
pana to give, to emit, to unpa sex; to have
ike bad, negative; linja long and flexible send sexual relations
irrelevant thing; string,
pi (regroups uta mouth, lips; oral
cord, hair, thread
ilo tool, machine, modifiers)
flat object; paper, utala to battle;
device, lipu
instrument card, document, pilin heart, feeling challenge
website pimeja black, dark, unlit walo white; light-
insa centre, inside,
red, reddish colored, pale
content; organ, loje pini finished, past,
stomach end wan one; unique
lon located at,
jaki disgusting, present at, true bug, insect waso flying creature
pipi
unclean, toxic
luka arm, hand; five hip, side; nearby wawa strong, powerful;
person,
poka
jan confident,
somebody lukin to see, examine container, bag,
poki energetic
yellow, yellowish lupa door, hole, orifice box, bowl, cup
jelo weka absent, away
ma earth, land; pona good, useful,
jo to have, carry, wile must, need, want
outdoors; soil simple, positive
contain, hold
mama parent; creator; pu interacting with
kala sea creature
caretaker Toki Pona: The
kalama sound; to make a Language of Good
mani money, cash, These definitions have been
sound, utter similar, same; as
currency item sama slightly shortened to better fit a
kama arriving, coming, single page. Also refer to other
*meli Female seli Fire; heat source
future; to become dictionaries and speakers!
plant, vegetation; mi first-person selo outer form,
kasi *These words have been marked as
grass, leaf pronoun outmost layer;
skin, peel widespread by lipu Linku, which
ken to be able to, can, *mije male
what? which? means that less than 90% of
may; possible seme
moku to eat, to drink; speakers use this word.
kepeken to use, with, by food sewi area above,
highest part; **This word is a common joke
means of moli dead, dying word, not intended for serious use.
divine, sacred
**kijete- Musteloids, such back, behind, rear
monsi sijelo body, torso.
santakalu as racoon
*monsuta fear; monster; physical state
kili fruit, vegetable scary sike circular object,
*kin also, too mu (animal noise) cycle; of one year

*kipisi to cut, to divide; night sky object sin new, fresh;

mun
part, division another
musi entertaining, fun,
kiwen hard object, sina second-person
recreational
metal, stone, rock pronoun
mute many, a lot; very;
ko clay, semi-solid, sinpin face, front, wall
quantity
paste, powder image, picture,
*namako spice, additional sitelen
writing, symbol